All That Glitters Ch. 41

The Chair futilely attempted to gavel down the uproar, to no effect. Then May Yunki stood. The Landstradt noticed and went silent.

"The Chair recognizes Lady Yunki."

"Thank-you, Chair." May looked around at the people sitting in the Landstradt. "Once, not so long ago, I sat in the bleachers at the rear of the Landstradt and marvelled at the politics that were taking place here on the floor.

"Then, I spent ten years illegally held as a slave. As former members of a Great House, who had no experience working as slaves, my sister and I suffered terribly during our transition from being among the privileged, to becoming something less than human," here, she fingered the pale skin at her neck where her slave collar once was.

"My sister and I had to learn to live as someone who had no rights, had no family, had no support from the law. My life was held in the hands of my Masters, the men of House Adenomere. It was not a pleasant time. We were taken by the Adenomeres and used in any manner that they wanted. Their actions against us were meant to be cruel, a punishment for being members of the Yunki Clan.

"As a former person of privilege, I learned what it meant to go without. To go without a bath, to go without clothes, to go without adequate food and water, to go without adequate medical care, or adequate support of any kind. Slaves are not encouraged to help other slaves, especially those who have or are being punished for an infraction, real or imaginary.

"If the Yunki Clan ever holds slaves again, they will be cared for to the best of our ability. They will not be starved. They will not be ill-used. They will be properly educated for the jobs they perform. They will be given rights that our house will recognize to ensure their loyalty and support.

"Lady Aurelia is correct; the cost of feeding slaves is the largest expense of any estate. The true reason that estates starve their slaves has nothing to do with preventing them from running away, neither has it anything to do with keeping control over slaves, not when all slaves wear collars that can provide instant punishment for poor behaviour. It does, however, have everything to do with the cost of slave maintenance.

"Clan Yunki will follow Lady Adenomere's lead and spend the monies necessary to properly care for any future slaves we may take on." May gave the Landstradt members a withering look, demanding them to say anything in return and then sat down to silence from the Landstradt.

The Dewfall, In Orbit, Planet Varus, Clément System, Forty-Eight Light Years from Terra

"I like that young woman," Dostier commented. "Her, her sister, and Aurelia. Those are two houses that we can deal with."

"I agree," Fayad stated. "However, both houses are now being led by rather young Matriarchs. It is very unusual for a person under thirty-one, male or female, to be the head of a house even more so to have a house run by a Matriarch vice a Patriarch.

"The Yunki twins are both twenty-five, and until this morning, slaves. Aurelia is eighteen. Regardless of their experiences and their skills, they will be considered as targets by the other houses. Having said that, both of those houses are garnering respect from the Landstradt," Fayad informed the group.

"When should we attempt to make contact with the Landstradt?" Junelliya asked.

"I would leave it for a bit, until we know what direction the Landstradt is moving in," Ambassador Flynet said. "Going in too early would not be something we want to do."

"The President wants us to contact them on the first day," Dostier reminded the Ambassador.

"Then we will contact them, through the ICS. No sense in sending a ship in if they will not allow us to land," Flynet countered.

They continued to watch as things heated up in the Landstradt. It was obvious that the Great Houses were trying to portray the Union as the monster under the bed but the Lesser Houses were having none of it, which, paradoxically, was good news for the Union.

Koh-Tan Se-Lam Roe ot Shem, Interstellar Space, Three Light Years from Piscium System

A small ship appeared not far behind the Koh-Tan and opened a channel, requesting permission to speak to the Jurte Pair.

Jurte Sha-Ret Sai-Rai opened the link to find herself speaking with Ambassador Nar-Tre Sai-Rai, the Pod-Drran co-ambassador to the Union.

"Good-day, Ambassador," Sha-Ret Greeted her. "How may I be of service to you?"

"By order of the Kumar-Pair, you will open your fleet to inspection immediately," Nar-Tre snapped.

At first taken aback by the wording and strength of the order, Sha-Ret bowed to the Ambassador.

"As the Kumar-Pair demand, so shall it be," Sha-Ret intoned.

"That is good," said a rather pleased voice that Sha-Ret recognized instantly. A moment later, the screen expanded to show the Kumaraie and Kumaroe seated beside the Ambassador.

"I told you she wouldn't flinch," the Kumaraie said to the Ambassador.

"You know our people much better than I, My Kumaraie," Nar-Tre returned, giving a formal bow of contrition to the Kumaraie.

"Sha-Ret, we will be inspecting the ten ships of this fleet, starting with the Koh-Tan. We have some news to impart that some will not find amusing, though others will be more than happy to be part of.

"On my order, open the bay to this ship. We will be present in Ull Mur (five Pod-Drran minutes or roughly five point three Terran minutes)." The image closed and opened on the bridge of the small ship where a human officer was in command.

"Koh-Tan, this is UDCS Laureli, Capt. Ulises Hyatt commanding, requesting permission to enter your shuttle bay, over."

"Laureli, you have permission to enter shuttle bay one, lights will be flashing at the entrance to the bay. You are cleared to land at your discretion," Ma-Ret Rai, commander of the Koh-Tan replied from her post.

A little over five minutes later, the Laureli landed in the bay near where a hastily made up honour guard stood at parade rest.

The hatch to the ship opened and the Kumir-Rai/Ro stepped down in pairs, one male, one female to step between the rows of the Koh-Tan's honour guard. This was not meant as an insult to anyone. It was protocol that was rooted in the tradition of palace coups.

The Kumar-Pair stepped from the ship, lead by Ambassador Nar-Tre Sai-Rai, her sash of office around her left shoulder and leading down to her right hip. She stepped up to the end of the line of honour guards and barked out: "Sheen!"

As one, both sets of honour guards drew their Kaldar, held proudly in front of their torsos.

Nar-Tre barked out "Hiidi!" The honour guards reversed their blades placing the tip to the deck, and knelt behind their blades, heads bowed to the Kumar-Pair. When the Kumar-Pair had arrived at the head of the honour guard, facing the Jurte-Pair, Nar-Tre barked out: "Heed!"

The honour guard stood and adopted the position of parade rest, their hands on the pommels of their still reversed Kaldars.

Suddenly, a rush of movement caught the eyes of the Kumir-Rai/Ro, who immediately adopted a defensive position around the Kumar-Pair, only to find themselves confronted by six Pod-Drran children, those they recognized as being the children of the Jurte-Pair.

"Kumaraie!" one of the children shouted happily. They all formally bowed to the pair as the Kumir-Rai/Ro stood down with a sigh as the tension eased from their bodies.

"Very diligent, my Kumir-Rai/Ro," the Kumaraie remarked with pride, causing the group of would-be defenders to blush a little.

"We have been practicing, My Kumaraie!" the same small male informed the Kumaraie.

"Not now, children," Sha-Ret admonished.

"No, now!" the Kumaraie replied with a smile. Being pregnant, she found anything to do with children of amusement.

The children's faces lit up and they adopted an open stance, facing the pair. As one, the let out a Kia! shout, stepping back with their right feet and bringing their left hand forward and across their body at a forty-five degree angle, their right hands coming down parallel to the deck, their fists even with their hips. The move was quick and showed surprising strength.

The children continued through the initial Kata and then moved through five more before coming back to face the Kumar-Pair and bowing to show that they had finished.

They then quickly moved to their right to pick up strange looking shiny black suits, which the quickly put on. The children broke into three groups of two, facing each other, strange 'swords' in their hands.

At a command from one of the Jurte-Rai, the first pair started to move swiftly. The used their practice swords with strength, agility, and a speed that surprised the Kumar-Pair and their Kumir-Rai/Ro. The sounds the swords made as the clashed against each other was exhilarating. A dozen blows rained down on each of the pair before one broke through the other's defenses and scored a hit that ended the bout.

The next pair repeated the actions of the first pair, moving even faster through their bout, which lasted a little longer than had the first pair. The bout ended when one brought their sword down on the head of their opponent with a resounding crash that frightened the unwary onlookers. The pair bowed to each other, apparently none-the-worse for wear.

The padding must be incredible! The Kumaraie thought.

The last pair fought hard. Their bout went the longest, with the strange swords flashing at each other at speeds that were difficult for the onlookers to watch. Finally, one of the pair pushed her sword straight into the stomach of her opponent with enough strength to cause him to stagger back three steps. He bowed to his opponent.

"You always win," he grumbled.

"You always chose me to fight against," she replied, bringing a smile from Jurte Sha-Ret Sai-Rai.

"That, was rather impressive," the Kumaraie stated. "This is the fighting techniques of the Humans?"

"Kim Sai-Rai taught us how to fight like this and gave us these outfits to practice with, My Kumaraie," one of the children said as she removed her helmet.

The Kumaraie took the helmet in her hands and looked it over carefully. She could see the padding inside, the metal-screened face. She was surprised to find it was lacquered wood, as was much of the rest of the 'armour'. She looked at the strange swords the children had used. They seemed to be long strips of wood bound together. That would give them strength and flexibility. Both would be needed to withstand the enormous forces of the strikes the children had used. The Kumaraie was truly impressed with the ability of the armour to withstand such strikes and of the sword's ability to deliver such without shattering.

"I am truly impressed, little ones," the Kumaraie marvelled. "You are as strong as many an adults, yet you are still so very young."

"We are young," one of the six replied. "However, Kim Sai-Rai has taught us that we must never misuse our strength of body, our strength mind, nor the strengths we gain from her teachings. We would not wish to disappoint our mentor."

The Kumar-Pair were surprised by that comment. Any other Pod-Drran would literally lord it over their opponents had they come across this seemingly invincible sword method. They looked at and could see the evident pride for their children on the faces of the Jurte-Pair.

"Now children, follow your minders back to our apartments, we adults must talk for a bit," Jurte Kur-Han Sai-Ro told them, getting disappointed noises from the children, much to the amusement of the Kumar-Pair.

They Kumar-Pair continued on with their inspection, finally coming to the Command Center where the Kumaraie stood to address those on duty, and the fleet by open link.

"I have some sad and yet happy news for those of you who are on these ships. The Union has decided to allow the Pod-Drran access to much of their technology, including ship technology. That means that these Man-Jays will shortly become redundant.

"This fleet will turn around one more time. It will continue to the Home Star but not as originally planned. Even at our best speed, it will take us almost five of our years to reach the Home Star.

"When these Man-Jays arrive at the Home Star, they will be repurposed for another use. It will take several years to repurpose these vessels but there is a reason that they are wanted and needed.

"There is a great desire by the Interspecies Community to explore further into the center of the galaxy. However, using ships of the class that the humans have, would not be suitable, as they could not hold sufficient bodies for any significant scientific investigations, limiting the investigations that could be made.

"The Man-Jays provide a means of overcoming that limitation. They can hold many thousands and can carry ships of human design of the same size as our combat ships, the current size standards of the Union Navy vessels. That gives the ships of this fleet an ability to explore that the Djinaëte ships lack.

"That, is why the Interspecies Community has requested that we be fully integrated into the community, and why we will be given new technology ahead of what we were expecting.

"The original forecast for our complete integration into the Interspecies Community was fifty to one hundred of our years. Now, they are contemplating allowing full integration of the Pod-Drran in less than twenty of our years.

"For this, we will gladly give up this fleet. The ships will be rebuilt and repurposed to become expedition vessels for the exploration of the galaxy. While the ship's crews will be an integrated Interspecies crew, the Man-Jays will principally be staffed by Pod-Drran, who know these ships intimately.

"The Union has already agreed to allow the Pod-Saar to be included in the new Interplanetary Communications System, with each of these Man-Jays receiving an antennae not long after Pod-Saar is integrated into the system. That is expected to happen by the end of the next human year.

"This means these ships will have instant communications with Pod-Saar, and any other point in the Interspecies Community that is connected to the ICS.

"The Union will also make available one of their supply vessels to support this fleet, what they call a Fleet Tender. They will also provide two of their newest fast ships, The Trine Class, for each of the Man-Jays. That means we can transport people and goods back and forth to Pod-Saar and to the Home Star once the humans have established a shipbuilding station there.

"Some of you will choose to stay abord these Man-Jays and enter into this new spirit of exploration with the members of the Interspecies Community. Others, who are leaders, will be chosen to become the commanders of the new ships we will build for the Pod-Drran. Yet others, technicians, will be chosen to learn how to build these new ships in the new shipbuilding station at the Home Star.

"Those of you who wish to return to Pod-Saar will be allowed to do so. Your original purpose in being in this fleet is long since been negated. We now have a new and bold purpose for this fleet, one that will bring the Pod-Drran much acclaim within the Interspecies Community.

"Jurte Sha-Ret Sai-Rai, Jurte Kur-Han Sai-Ro, by my order, this fleet is to turn around and continue on to the Home Star, where it will become the foundation of the expeditionary ships for the Interspecies Community," the Kumaraie spoke.

The witnesses cheered as the Jurte-Pair accepted the order.

The Kumar-Pair visited each of the Man-Jays in the fleet, speaking to many of the Pod-Drran. Some were accepted into the leadership integration project for command of the new ships. Those Technicians that wanted to be, were accepted into the school for building and modifying the new ships. Others wished to become members of the crew for the ships when they were finally modified.

Yet others wished to return to Pod-Saar. The Kumar-Pair assured those that wanted it, to be given priority over each of their choices, in recognition of their time-in-service aboard these very vessels.

The Kumar-Pair left a trail of pleased Pod-Drran behind them. Never before had a Kumar-Pair sought to balance out their actions with their people. It left a good impression behind on the vast majority of the Pod-Drran.

UDCS Laureli, Malihan Regional Hospital Shuttle Port, Green's World, Harn System, Twenty Light Years from Terra

The UDCS Laureli settled onto the landing field of the shuttle port not far from Malihan Hospital. There to greet it, was Marion Colston, President of Green's World, with several dignitaries beside and behind her.

The ship opened it's hatch and twenty-four Kumir-Rai/Ro exited the vessel and formed two opposing ranks along the edge of the red carpet. Next came Ambassador Nar-Tre Sai-Rai, followed by the Kumar-Pair.

As the Kumir-Rai/Ro completed their duties as honour guard, President Colston stepped forward and bowed to the dignitaries.

"Welcome to Green's World, Ambassador Nar-Tre Sai-Rai, Kumaraie Na-Maj Se-lam Pod-Raie, and Kumaroe Jarl Se-Lam Pod-Sai-Roe," she greeted them. "I am Marion Colston, the elected President of Green's World."

"That was well done, Madame President," the Kumaroe replied, impressed with her handling of the pronunciation of their names. "You would be surprised how many dignitaries have done poorly with our names," he informed her with a typical closed-mouth Pod-Drran smile.

The president laughed. "You do not know how many times I had to practice that," she informed them.

"May I introduce to you Sharon Green, Matriarch of the Green Family and CEO of Green Holdings, her eldest daughter and heir, Karen Green, and her eldest son, Martin Green III. The Green Family is the first family of Green's World and the largest employer on the planet," she informed them, indicating each person as she spoke.

"And of course, the reason you are here, Dr. Aurelie Pendame, the Administrator of Malihan Regional Hospital and Dr. Morina Holdar, the Senior Teaching Doctor at Malihan Hospital," she finished the introductions.

"I do apologize, Kumaraie and Kumaroe, however, the hospital has a strict policy of non-family members seeing patients at certain portions of their treatment. Kome-Nar Sai-Ro is, unfortunately, in the middle of such a phase of his treatment," Dr. Pendame stated.

"That is all right then, Dr. Pendame. I am Nar-Tre Sai-Rai, co-ambassador to the Union at the Interspecies Embassy on Liramor-23 and mate to Ambassador Kome-Nar Sai-Ro. I can give your hospital permission to provide visiting rights to the Kumar-Pair," Nar-Tre stated formally.

Dr. Pendame smiled. "Then we can all go see our star patient. Madame President?" Dr. Pendame asked, looking at the President Colston.

"I am, as per normal, rather busy," the President informed them. She turned to the Kumar-Pair. "I would like to make time for you to visit my offices later, if you can but I have done my duty in greeting our distinguished visitors."

"You have indeed. Thank-you for your personal introductions. I will have Nar-Tre contact your EA for a brief meeting later today, if we may?"

President Colston nodded in agreement and a young woman moved to Nar-Tre and passed on her contact information via a touch of their comps.

The group moved off to the hospital with Sharon and Karen Green following along and speaking with Ambassador Nar-Tre. They were very eager to talk business with the Pod-Drran now that it was officially permitted.

They were first escorted to the surgery ward where Kome-Nar was being treated, where they were greeted by the Pod-Drran doctors and nurses who were learning the techniques of regeneration. Dr. Holdar wisely allowed Kayl-Ur and her mate, Hend-Ur to take the questions on what was happening.